User-friendly brahmi-derived hindi keyboard

ABSTRACT

A character input system using a keyboard having a plurality of keys, at least some of the keys each being assigned at least one Brahmi-derived (e.g., Hindi) script character. At least one key may be assigned a halant. The key assignments may be spatially grouped on the keyboard according to vowels, consonants and the phonetic characteristics of the characters. Hindi script communications may be inputted quickly and efficiently as a result of the arrangement of Hindi character keys and a simplified Hindi character set provided through use of the halant character.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The Hindi script is a subset of the Devanagari script which inturn evolved from the ancient Brahmi script (FIG. 7). Other Indianlanguages using the Devanagari script include Marathi and Sanskrit.Other scripts derived from Brahmi include: Gujarathi, Oriya, Punjabi(also called Gurmukhi); Bengali, Assamese, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada,Malayalam (India); Sinhala (Sri Lanka); Nepali (Nepal-derived fromDevanagari); Burmese (Myanmar—Burma); Tibetan (Tibet); Laotian (Laos);Thai (Thailand); Khmer (Cambodia); Java, Bali, Batak, Bugis/Buginese(Indonesia); and Tagalog (Philippines)

[0002] Hindi is the official language of India. Most Indian schoolchildren are required to study Hindi from an early age. In India thereare approximately 200 million native Hindi speakers, while more than 300million use it as their second language. There are approximately 10million Hindi speakers outside India, primarily in Nepal.

[0003] The Devanagari script includes many more characters than westernscripts such as the Roman script for the English language. While Hindihas only 12 vowels and 33 consonants, a language written in Devanagariscript, such as Hindi, may include in excess of 550 characters becausevarious phonetic characters are combined into conjunct characters. Thelarge number of characters can make keyboard-entry of Devanagari scriptburdensome and complicated. Furthermore, this problem is exacerbated bythe fact that many languages besides Hindi use the Devanagari script(e.g., Marathi and Sanskrit) and Devanagari-based keyboards may cater toall of them, thereby generating additional complexities.

[0004] Existing Hindi keyboard solutions typically focus on makingavailable all or most of the 500+ characters of the Devanagari script.These comprehensive keyboards may involve complexities such as multiplevirtual keyboards and multiple key-stroke characters. These complexitiestend to make existing keyboard solutions difficult to learn and use. Forthese reasons, keyboards based, for example, on the Inscript layout tendto be difficult to use. Additionally, none of the existing keyboardshave the whole script, or even most of it, visible on the keyboard.

[0005] A variety of solutions have been proposed with regard tokeyboards for use with other languages such as English, Korean, Chinese,and Japanese. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,705 describes a keyboardarrangement to maximize typing speed and data entry and to easetransition from a QWERTY keyboard. This keyboard uses a layout whereinthe home keys are assigned according to the frequency of use of theletters.

[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,928 describes a keyboard for the KoreanLanguage. Keys on a keyboard are assigned a plurality of jamos(characters). Additional word processor software analyzes key sequencesto resolve ambiguities and determine which characters are intended.

[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,950 describes an on-screen keyboard for theJapanese language. An array of Japanese based Kana characters aredisplayed. The first selection of a character key causes the display ofthe character in base kana form. The second consecutive selection of thesame key causes the display of the character in a variant form.Subsequent consecutive selections cause the display of the character infurther variant forms.

[0008] U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,647 describes a “user-friendly and efficientkeyboard” for the English language. The keyboard layout placespunctuation marks in the center of the keyboard with letters arrangedalphabetically on either side of the punctuation marks.

[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,252 describes a downsized keyboard for usewith the Japanese language. One vowel is assigned to each key of a firstkey group. Two consonants are assigned to each key in a second keygroup. An unvoiced consonant is input with a single key-pressingoperation while a voiced consonant is input with a double key-pressingoperation.

[0010] U.S. Pat. No. 6,275,216 describes a keyboard for enteringcharacters for the Japanese language. One embodiment of the keyboardexecutes inputting of a character by zero, one, or a plurality ofstrokes of a code key and sequential stroke of a separator key forselecting a letter.

[0011] U.S. Pat. No. 6,281,884 describes a user-definable keyboardapparatus for use with the Chinese language. A key may correspond to oneor more Chinese characters and a character may be assigned to one ormore keys. The apparatus may automatically verify that a user-definedkeyboard is rational by reference to a character sound grouping rulestable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0012] A user-friendly and efficient keyboard vector which allows acharacter input system uses a real or virtual keyboard having aplurality of keys, at least some of which are assigned to at least oneBrahmi-based script character, such as a Devanagari character, and atleast one key being assigned a halant. For simplicity, aspects of thesystem are described with reference to the Hindi language. However, thekeyboard system and method may also be adapted for use with otherlanguage scripts that are derived from the Brahmi script.

[0013] The vowels of the Hindi script may be grouped together on thekeyboard and may be assigned to keys that correspond to the number-rowon a standard keyboard. The “vowel signs” or Matras may be accessed bypressing the assigned vowel key with a modifier key (e.g., SHIFT).

[0014] In Hindi, the consonants are divided into five Varg subsets andone Non-Varg group. The keyboard may map the five Varg consonant subsetsthat each contain the five phonetically-related consonants. The Vargconsonants may be spatially grouped in sets of five in the way they arelearned. Keys of each Varg set may be grouped on keys that are adjacentor diagonal to one another on the keyboard. The keys of each Varg may begrouped in a single row on the keyboard. The final Non-Varg consonantsmay be mapped to keys that are grouped together on the keyboard. In oneembodiment, eight non-varg consonants are mapped to a group of eightkeys.

[0015] In another embodiment, vowel keys are mapped to the Hindi vowels,at least some of the vowel keys being arranged in a row. Initialconsonants keys are arranged in a plurality of subsets that include keysthat are mapped to a group of phonetically-related Varg consonants. Atleast some of each subset of initial consonant keys may be arranged on asingle row, which may be configured horizontally or in anotherconfiguration. Final consonant keys (non-Varg) may also be mapped toHindi final consonants, and at least some of the final consonant keysmay be arranged in a row.

[0016] A halant key may be assigned to the halant character to provide asimplified character set, thereby reducing the number of keys and,therefore, the learning curve for the keyboard user.

[0017] In another embodiment, a computer system for use with a languageusing Hindi script includes a processor, a memory system, a graphicaluser interface, and a Hindi script keyboard. The keyboard may include aplurality of keys, at least some of which are assigned at least oneHindi script character, and at least one key being assigned a halant.The key assignments may be spatially grouped on the keyboard accordingto phonetic characteristics of the characters.

[0018] In another embodiment, a keyboard adapted for use with Hindiscript language may include a group of vowel keys each being assigned aHindi script vowel, the vowel keys comprising keys corresponding to thenumber-row on a standard keyboard. The Matras may be accessed bypressing the appropriate vowel key with a modifier key (e.g., SHIFT).

[0019] The keyboard may also include a first group ofphonetically-related consonant keys comprising keys corresponding toQ-W-E-R-T on a standard keyboard. The keyboard may further include asecond group of phonetically-related consonant keys comprising keyscorresponding to A-S-D-F-G on a standard keyboard. The keyboard mayfurther include a third group of phonetically-related consonant keyscomprising keys corresponding to Z-X-C-V-B on a standard keyboard. Thekeyboard may further include a fourth group of phonetically-relatedconsonant keys comprising keys corresponding to Y-U-I-O-P on a standardkeyboard. The keyboard may further include a fifth group ofphonetically-related consonant keys comprising keys corresponding toH-J-K-L-; on a standard keyboard.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020]FIG. 1 is a plan view of a keyboard showing Hindi charactersmapped to one character set (G₁), i.e., upper ASCII set.

[0021]FIG. 2 is a plan view of a keyboard showing additional Hindicharacters mapped to the G₁ character set which may be accessed using anadditional key (e.g., the SHIFT key).

[0022]FIG. 3 is a plan view of keys including characters of the firstHindi Varg set.

[0023]FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a computer system for use with thekeyboard.

[0024]FIG. 5 is a plan view of the preferred and alternate embodimentsof the Hindi keyboard showing Hindi characters mapped to a firstcharacter set. The five Varg consonants subsets (V1 to V5) and theNon-Varg consonants (NV) are indicated.

[0025]FIG. 6 shows Hindi vowels and consonants.

[0026]FIG. 7 shows the various Indian language scripts derived fromBrahmi.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0027] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the layout for a keyboard 20 includesa subset of characters from the Brahmi-based Devanagari script, specificto Hindi. For convenience, reference will be made to the Hindi scriptand alphabet, although the description and keyboard may also be appliedto related Brahmi-derived scripts that have similar characteristics.

[0028] Other Brahmi-derived Indian scripts include the Northern scriptsMarathi, Sanskrit, Gujarati, Punjabi, Assamese, Bengali, Oriya, Manipuriand Southern scripts Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada. Brahmiderived scripts used in languages outside India include Sinhala, Nepali,Burmese, Tibetan, Laotian, Thai, Khmer, Javanese, Bali, Batak,Bugis/Buginese and Tagalog.

[0029] As shown in FIG. 1, a portion of the Hindi alphabet may be mappedto the upper ASCII (G₁) character set and the appropriate keyboard filesmodified, so that the Hindi script may be directly accessed from thekeyboard. A key, which may be “sticky,” may be used to access English.To simplify use of the keyboard, a “halant” may be used below leadingconsonants to type both consonants rather than create all the doubleletters which exist. This use of a halant is an accepted way to writeHindi, and it immediately cuts the number of Hindi character keylocations from in excess of 550 to less than 55. This order of magnitudereduction considerably shortens any learning curve.

[0030] An additional software program may be used to run through theinputted material and replace all the halant derived compound characters(e.g., consonantal conjuncts) with traditional conjuncts from a library.This may be used in real time or at the end of the input sequence.

[0031] A standard personal computer keyboard can typically have two setsof characters (G₀ and G₁) which are accessible by using the SHIFT and/orthe CAPS_LOCK keys. A keyboard configured for English does not requireuse of the second character set (extended ASSCII or the G₁ set) becausethe English alphabet (26 characters) fits on the first character set(the G₀ set). The G₁ set is, however, used by other languages. Forexample, French, German and the Scandinavian languages use the G₁ setfor their Umlauts, Diacritic signs, and accents. The G₁ set is also usedwith Russian for its Cyrillic alphabet.

[0032] The keyboard layout shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes the Hindi G₁character set. FIG. 2 shows vowel signs (Matras) and additional commonlyused conjuncts accessed by the SHIFT key. The standard QWERTY keyboard(i.e., the G₀ set) may be accessed by another modifier key, e.g., theCAPS_LOCK key.

[0033] A. Hindi Vowels

[0034] The keyboard may include keys mapped to Hindi vowels, as shown inFIGS. 1 and 5. The various Brahmi-based Indian script languagesgenerally use up to 18 vowels. Hindi uses 13 vowels.

[0035] In FIG. 1, the 13 vowel characters of Hindi are provided on thetop row of the standard keyboard layout (Row 1). On the standardkeyboard, this row typically includes the numerals 1 to 9 and 0 as wellas other symbols such as the hyphen (-) and equals (=). To simplify useof the keyboard, all the vowels are provided through the keyboard asindependent characters. Although the numerals may be displaced from thenumber row, the Hindi numerals may be made available on the numberkeypad, as shown in FIG. 1. However, in the majority of cases Romannumbers are used in Hindi (and other Indian languages). The Romannumbers can be accessed using the G₀ English script.

[0036] In addition to vowels, Hindi also includes “vowel signs.” A vowelsign is typically represented using a diacritical mark, called a“Matra”, which is written above, below, before, or after the consonantto which the vowel belongs. There are a variety of different Matra tosignify various vowel sounds.

[0037] The combination of Hindi consonant characters with the variousdiacritical vowel markings results in a multiplicity of possible Hindicharacters. Mapping the vowel signs to independent keys may drasticallyreduce the number of keys needed to generate these combinations. Asshown in FIG. 2, the Matras (vowel signs) are provided in the first rowof the keyboard layout in the G₁ character set and are accessed by theSHIFT key+Vowel key. In addition, combination characters may be providedin the G₁ character set.

[0038] It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the vowels donot necessarily need to be placed on the number row. For example, in analternative embodiment as shown in FIG. 5, all the vowels could begrouped to the left side of the keyboard and the Varg consonants groupedelsewhere on the keyboard.

[0039] B. Hindi Consonants

[0040] In FIG. 1, Varg consonants in the G₁ character set are arrangedin rows Q-W-E-R-T, A-S-D-F-G, Z-X-C-V-B, Y-U-I-O-P, H-J-K-L-; andN-M-,-.-/. These rows of 5 characters extend across the keyboard in ahorizontal or left-right direction (i.e. on a standard keyboard) inFIG. 1. A row may also be defined in another direction (i.e. 4-R-F-V ona standard keyboard). Commonly used compound consonant characters areshown in the G₁ character set in FIG. 2 and may be accessed by pressingthe SHIFT key. Other Brahmi derived scripts (e.g., Tamil and Thai) haveadditional sounds not derived from Brahmi and these may also be accessedusing the Shift key.

[0041] Hindi consonants may be characterized as “Varg” and “Non-Varg”.Varg consonants are arranged in groups of five consonants, as indicatedin FIG. 6. The Hindi script includes five Vargs sets (V1, V2, V3, V4,and V5) and a few non-Varg (uncategorized, NV) consonants. Theconsonants belonging to the five Vargs occupy most of rows R2, R3, andR4. The remaining Devanagari characters in rows R2, R3, and R4 arenon-Varg consonants. Additional non-Varg consonants, and a few doublecharacters are included in the G₁ character set accessed by the SHIFTkey shown in FIG. 2.

[0042] Referring now to FIG. 3, a key layout I for Varg 1 is shown. Thefirst two consonants of each Varg constitute the Primary Pair (PP). Thesecond two consonants of each Varg constitute the Secondary Pair (SP).The second consonant of each pair is the aspirated counterpart (has anadditional “h” sound) of the first consonant in the pair. The lastconsonant of the five consonants in a Varg includes a nasalpronunciation.

[0043] As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the Varg consonants are mappedonto the keyboard layout in a sequential group including, from left toright, PP, SP and the fifth consonant. While in FIG. 1 the Vargs appearin horizontal rows, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art thatthe consonants of each Varg could be grouped in a different manner thanshown in FIG. 1. For example, consonants in a Varg could be clustered onkeys that are adjacent (e.g. F-G or G-T) or diagonal (e.g. F-V) from oneanother, or grouped onto diagonal rows (e.g. corresponding to keys4-R-F-V on a standard keyboard.)

[0044] Other Details:

[0045] 1. The Halant. A “Halant” character allows two or more consonantsto be read as a single character. Some portions of Indian society findthis “informal” scribing technique to be unacceptable because thepractice departs from official written Hindi. Nonetheless, theHindi-reading community generally understands and comprehends thetechnique of using Halants to join Hindi characters.

[0046] 2. The Viram. The Hindi full stop (period) may be accessed bySHIFT and /. (FIG.2).

[0047] 3. The Anuswar. The Anuswar, a nasal inflection, may be accessedby a Matra key (SHIFT and -) FIG. 2.

[0048] 4. The Chandrabindu. Another nasal inflection may be accessed bya Matra key (SHIFT and ‘) FIG.2.

[0049] 5. The Nukta. The Nukta is needed for writing some URDU andPunjabi sounds in Hindi (accessed by \ as shown in FIG. 1).

[0050] 6. Compound characters commonly used Hindi: FIG. 2

[0051] ‘thr’ (SHIFT and y)

[0052] ‘gya’ (SHIFT and d)

[0053] ‘shr’ (SHIFT and m)

[0054] ‘ksh’ (SHIFT and ’)

[0055] ‘om’ (SHIFT and a)

[0056] ‘llha’—pronounced hard (SHIFT and,)

[0057] 7. The half (r) sign is a commonly used one and is mapped toSHIFT and \.

[0058] An additional software program may be used to run through theinputted material and replace all the halant derived compound characters(e.g., consonantal conjuncts) with traditional conjuncts from a library.This may be used in real time or at the end of the input sequence.

[0059] While the keyboard layout of FIGS. 1 and 2 generally avoids theoveruse of compound characters (e.g., consonantal conjuncts) to limitthe number of characters on the keyboard and thereby promote rapidlearning and ease of use, commonly used conjuncts may nonetheless beaccessed using the SHIFT key (FIG. 2). Additional space exists on the G₁character set using the SHIFT key to either add more compound charactersif needed or additional characters (e.g., for Tamil and Thai).

[0060] The keyboard may also provide for access to characters in theEnglish alphabet using the G₀ lower ASCII set. For example, the G₀ lowerASCII set may be accessed with the CAPS_LOCK key. The SHIFT key+theCAPS_LOCK key may access uppercase Roman alphabet. This feature may beimportant to users because many Hindi speakers prefer to write in acombination of Hindi and English. In addition, email and many web sitesmay only be accessed through English-alphabet addresses.

[0061] In one embodiment, pressing a particular key makes the Englishlower case (G₀) set available. Pressing another key, which may be a“sticky” key or the SHIFT key, makes English capitals accessible. In oneparticular embodiment, pressing the Caps Lock key makes the Englishlower case set available and pressing the remapped LEFT_CONTROL key (orany other unused key) makes the English upper case set available. Inanother particular embodiment, pressing an applet on the desktop makesthe English lower case set available and pressing the CAPS_LOCK makesthe English upper case set available.

[0062] In another embodiment, the key assignments may be spatiallygrouped on the keyboard according to phonetic characteristics of thecharacters and the way they are learned. In this embodiment, all thevowels and consonants of the Hindi script may be presented on a singlekeyboard. A halant (half-letter) symbol may also be presented. Thevowels may be grouped together, and the vowel signs (Matras) may beevoked by SHIFT+Vowel key. The Varg consonants may be grouped in sets of5, and Vowel diacritic signs (Matras), additional characters andcommonly used compound characters (e.g., consonantal conjuncts) may beevoked by the Shift key.

[0063] The keyboard may be used with a personal computer such as anIBM®, Compaq®, Dell®, or Apple® Macintosh® personal computer. A personalcomputer typically includes an operating system such as Windows 95®,Windows 98®, Windows ME®, Windows NT®, Windows 2000®, Windows XP®, MacOS 7®, Max OS 8®, Mac OS 9®, Mac OS X® or Linux® software. The keyboardmay also be used with other types of computer systems.

[0064] An example of a computer system 30 is shown in FIG. 4. Thepreferred hardware configuration may include a central processing unit40, such as a microprocessor, and a number of other units that may beinterconnected by a system bus 50. The computer system 30 may also bespread out over one or more interconnected computers or computersystems.

[0065] The system may also include a Random Access Memory (RAM) 70, ReadOnly Memory (ROM) 80, and an I/O adapter 90 for connecting peripheraldevices such as disk storage units 100 to the bus 50. A user interfaceadapter 110 for connecting several input devices may also be included.Examples of possible input devices electronically coupled to the userinterface adapter 120 include a keyboard 20, a mouse 130, a speaker 140,a microphone 150, and/or other user interface devices such as a touchscreen. A communication adapter 160 may be included for connecting thesystem to a communication network link 170. A graphical user interface180 may also be coupled to the system bus 50 and provides the connectionto a display device 190. It will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat the mouse 130 may be a typical mouse as known in the industry, oralternatively a similar device such as a trackball, light pen, or thelike. The system may be configured to use a real keyboard or a virtualkeyboard, such as an on-screen keyboard.

[0066] The keyboard system and method may be used with most popularexisting operating systems. A small program may be distributed either byfloppy, CDROM or downloadable from the web to provide the functionalityand instructions for mapping and using Hindi characters on a standardkeyboard.

[0067] To implement the keyboard system and method with the XWINDOWdesktop system (e.g., Unix®, Linux®, Solaris® etc.), two XMM files (onefor English and one for Hindi) may be invoked by two desktop applets. Aneditor (e.g., gedit) may be accessed to type documents. Otherapplication software may also be accessed—for example Netscape® in Hindiwhich provides a web browser, an email client and allows the compositionof simple HTML web pages.

[0068] An additional software program may be used to run through theinputted material and replace all the halant derived compound characters(e.g., consonantal conjuncts) with traditional conjuncts from a library.This may be used in real time or at the end of the input sequence.

[0069] To implement the keyboard system and method with MicrosoftWindows operating system, a separate TrueType font (TTF) file of Hindicharacter set may be invoked because Microsoft Windows, by design, doesnot generally allow low-level access to the keyboard. The MicrosoftWindows driver may be a stand alone program running on the MicrosoftWindows platform which includes fonts, a .DLL file, an executable, asplash screen etc. When activated and the Hindi font is chosen, thedriver may provide both Hindi and English functionality on a standardkeyboard. Any key that is not assigned a Hindi character may be used toswitch between Hindi and English.

[0070] An additional software program, specific to Microsoft Windows,may be used to run through the inputted material and replace all thehalant derived compound characters (e.g., consonantal conjuncts) withtraditional conjuncts from a library. This may be used in real time orat the end of the input sequence.

[0071] The keyboard method and system may employ Unicode or the ISCIIstandard to uniquely code the script characters. Unicode allows all thecombinations in all Indian languages to have a unique hex code. Thesehex codes may be generated by a keyboard BIOS. Externally, the keyboardmay have the same encoding vector.

[0072] While the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 is configured forHindi, the keyboard system and method can be easily adapted for relatedlanguages that use the Devanagari script or are derived from the Brahmiscript of ancient India. For example, Devanagari script is also used towrite Sanskrit, Nepali, Konkani, and Marathi. In addition, most of theother officially recognized Indian languages (Bengali, Telegu, Marathi,Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Manipuri)derive their scripts from the Brahmi script. This general approach mayalso be used for non-Indian languages using Brahmi derived scripts(Sinhala, Nepali, Burmese, Tibetan, Laotian, Thai, Khmer, Javanese,Bali, Batak, Bugis/Buginese and Tagalog).

[0073] While these languages differ significantly from Hindi in syntaxand grammar and the scripts may differ significantly in shape andcombinations, the number of vowels and consonants are in the sameball-park range as Hindi. As a result, the keyboard embodiment shown maybe adapted for use with all these languages. The keyboard method andsystem may have similar encoding vectors for vowels and consonants forall the official Indian languages. Because each these languages may beassigned a unique Unicode hex code, it is also straightforward to makeUnicode keyboards for these other languages.

[0074] As shown by FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, the key concepts are not theassignment of particular characters to particular keys, but rather themajority of the alphabets of a particular language displayed and groupedaccording to vowels, related consonants and the manner in which thecharacters are learned. Because the keyboard is based on assigningcharacters to keys of a standard keyboard, it is not necessary to builda specialized keyboard for use with the Hindi script and for otherlanguage scripts derived from Brahmi.

[0075] Glossary of Terminology:

[0076] Anuswar: A dot about the character ‘□’ representing a nasalsound.

[0077] Brahmi script: This elegant script appeared in India mostcertainly by the 5th century BC, but just like the Greek alphabet, ithas many local variants, which suggests that its origin lies furtherback in time. It is in this script that they ancient Indian king Asokainscribed his laws onto monumental columns. The Brahmi script was theancestor of all Indian writing systems, including the Devanagari. Inaddition, many Asian scripts, such as Burmese, Thai, Tibetan and evenJapanese to a very small extent (vowel order), were also derived fromIndian script. Thus the Brahmi script was the Indian equivalent of theGreek script from which many different scripts originated.

[0078] The Brahmi Script

[0079] Chandrabindu: Is a crescent and a dot about the characterrepresenting a nasal sound.

[0080] Devanagari script: A highly cursive descendent of the Brahmiscript. Many languages, such as Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi and Nepali usethe Devanagari script or a subset of it.

[0081] The Devanagari Script

[0082] G₀ and G₁ character sets: The first 128 characters in the ASCII8-bit encoding scheme are referred to as the lower (G₀) character set.These typically code the lower and upper case Roman English alphabet.The remaining character set space (upper character set, extended ASCIIcharacter set or G₁ set) are not used in English but are used to codespecial additional characters e.g., umlauts in German, accented Frenchcharacters or the Cyrillic alphabet of the Russian language.

[0083] Halant: This is a sign (an oblique dash) below the leadingcharacter of a pair (usually consonants) which signifies a conjunct ofthe two characters. This is an accepted way of joining 2 consonantsinstead of using an additional unique character. The cuts down thenumber of keys by an order of magnitude.

[0084] Inscript keyboard layout: The official Indian language keyboardencoding vector which encodes the whole Devanagari script. This includesHindi, Marathi and Sanskrit languages.

[0085] ISCII (INDIAN SCRIPT CODE FOR INFORMATION EXCHANGE) is anencoding method which allows unique codes for all Indian scriptcharacters. It is essentially a subset of the Unicode standard.

[0086] Keyboard Encoding Vector: The order in which the letters of ascript are arranged on the keyboard

[0087] Matra: This is a vowel diacritic sign.

[0088] Nukta: This is the dot below, i.e., “.”—it is used for derivingother characters in Devanagari, Punjabi and when Urdu is written usingDevanagari.

[0089] Om: A commonly used Hindu religious symbol.

[0090] Script: A complete set of characters used for the written form ofone or more languages, e.g., the Roman script for the English Language,i.e., a, b, c . . . x,y,z.

[0091] Vargs: These are the initial consonants phonetically grouped in5's. There are 5 such Varg groups of consonants. Additional, finalconsonants are the Non-Varg consonants (8 in Hindi).

[0092] Viram: This is a full stop sign in Hindi (|) Verse endings inSanskrit use a double Viram (∥).

[0093] Visarg: Comes after a vowel and represents the ‘h’ sound. InTamil this represents the Aytham ‘∴’ sound.

[0094] The above specification, examples and data provide a completedescription of the manufacture and use of the composition of theinvention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention, the inventionresides in the claims hereinafter appended.

I claim:
 1. A character input system using a keyboard comprising aplurality of keys, at least some of the keys each being assigned atleast one Hindi script character, and at least one key being assigned ahalant, the key assignments being spatially grouped on the keyboardaccording to their phonetic characteristics.
 2. The character inputsystem of claim 1 wherein the key assignments are also grouped accordingto the vowels and consonants.
 3. The character input system of claim 2wherein Hindi script consonants are spatially grouped according to Vargsand Non-Vargs.
 4. The character input system of claim 3 wherein the keyscomprising each Varg are grouped on keys that are adjacent or diagonalto one another on the keyboard.
 5. The character input system of claim 4wherein the keys comprising each Varg are grouped in a single row on thekeyboard.
 6. The character input system of claim 5 wherein the keyboardcomprises five Vargs of consonant keys that each contain fivephonetically-related consonants.
 7. The character input system of claim6 wherein the five Varg consonant sets are assigned to keys thatcorrespond to q-w-e-r-t, a-s-d-f-g, z-x-c-v-b, y-u-i-o-p, and h-j-k-l-;on a standard keyboard.
 8. The character input system of claim 1 whereinthe Hindi final consonant keys are grouped together on the keyboard. 9.The character input system of claim 8 wherein the Hindi final consonantkeys are grouped together on a row of the keyboard.
 10. The characterinput system of claim 8 wherein Hindi final consonant keys are assignedto keys that correspond to n-m-,-.-/ on a standard keyboard.
 11. Thecharacter input system of claim 1 wherein the keyboard comprises aplurality of Hindi script vowel keys, each vowel key being assigned to aHindi script vowel.
 12. The character input system of claim 11 whereinthe Hindi vowel keys are grouped together on the keyboard.
 13. Thecharacter input system of claim 12 wherein the Hindi vowel keys aregrouped on keys that are adjacent or diagonal to one another on thekeyboard.
 14. The character input system of claim 13 wherein at leastsome of the Hindi vowels are assigned to keys that correspond to thenumber-row on a standard keyboard.
 15. The character input system ofclaim 14 wherein the diacritic Hindi “vowel signs” (Matras) may beaccessed by pressing a modifier key with the appropriate vowel key. 16.The character input system of claim 1 wherein the keyboard is adaptedfor use with the Hindi language.
 17. The character input system of claim1 wherein the keyboard is adapted for use with an Indian Brahmi-basedscript based on similarities to Hindi.
 18. The character input system ofclaim 1 wherein the keyboard is adapted for use with one of the group ofBengali, Telegu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya,Punjabi, Assamese, Manipuri and Sanskrit.
 19. The character input systemof claim 1 wherein the keyboard is adapted for use with any non-IndianBrahmi-based script.
 20. The character input system of claim 1 whereinthe keyboard is adapted for use with one of the group of Sinhala,Nepali, Burmese, Tibetan, Laotian, Thai, Khmer, Javanese, Bali, Batak,Bugis/Buginese and Tagalog.
 21. A keyboard for the use with aBrahmi-derived script comprising: vowel keys mapped to the vowels, atleast some of the vowel keys being arranged in a row; initial consonantkeys arranged in a plurality of subsets, each subset comprising keysmapped to a group of phonetically-related initial consonants, at leastsome of each subset of initial consonant keys being arranged on a singlerow; final consonant keys mapped to final consonants, at least some ofthe final consonant keys being arranged in a row; and a halant keymapped to halant character; wherein Brahmi-derived script communicationsmay be inputted quickly and efficiently as a result of the arrangementof character keys and a simplified character set provided through use ofthe halant character.
 22. The keyboard of claim 21 wherein a rowcomprises horizontally adjacent keys.
 23. The keyboard of claim 21wherein the keyboard is adapted for use with the Hindi script.
 24. Thekeyboard of claim 21 wherein the initial consonants comprise Vargconsonants and the final consonant comprise non-Varg consonants.
 25. Amethod of adapting a keyboard for a language that uses a Brahmi-derivedscript such as Hindi script, the method comprising: mapping vowels tovowel keys arranged in a row; mapping initial consonants to initialconsonant keys arranged in a plurality of subsets, each subsetcomprising keys mapped to a group of phonetically-related initialconsonants, each subset of initial consonant keys being arranged on asingle row; mapping final consonants to final consonant keys arranged ina row; and mapping a halant character to a halant key; whereinBrahmi-derived script communications may be inputted quickly andefficiently as a result of the arrangement of character keys and asimplified character set provided through use of the halant character.26. A computer system for use with a language that uses Brahmi-derivedscript, the computer system comprising: a processor; a memory system; agraphical user interface; and a Brahmi-derived script keyboardcomprising a plurality of keys, at least some of the keys each beingassigned at least one Brahmi-derived script character, and at least onekey being assigned a halant, the key assignments being spatially groupedon the keyboard according to phonetic characteristics of the characters.27. The system of claim 26 wherein the keyboard comprises a virtualkeyboard.
 28. The system of claim 26 wherein the virtual keyboardcomprises a touch-sensitive screen.
 29. A keyboard adapted for use withHindi script, the keyboard comprising: a group of vowel keys each beingassigned a Hindi script vowel, the vowel keys comprising keyscorresponding to the number-row on a standard keyboard; a first Varggroup of phonetically-related consonant keys comprising keyscorresponding to Q-W-E-R-T on a standard keyboard; a second Varg groupof phonetically-related consonant keys comprising keys corresponding toA-S-D-F-G on a standard keyboard; a third Varg group ofphonetically-related consonant keys comprising keys corresponding toZ-X-C-V-B on a standard keyboard; a fourth Varg group ofphonetically-related consonant keys comprising keys corresponding toY-U-I-O-P on a standard keyboard; and a fifth Varg group ofphonetically-related consonant keys comprising keys corresponding toH-J-K-L-; on a standard keyboard. a final group of Non-Varg consonantkeys comprising keys corresponding to N-M-,-.-/-'-[-] on a standardkeyboard.
 30. A character input system using a keyboard comprising aplurality of keys, at least some of the keys each being assigned atleast one Hindi script character, and at least one key being assigned ahalant, the key assignments being spatially grouped on the keyboardaccording to the vowels and consonants, their phonetic characteristicsand the method in which the characters are learned.